MacRumors

Samsung is likely to permanently stop selling its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones following the latest halt of sales and production, according to reports on Tuesday.

Samsung halted sales and paused production of the Note 7 smartphones in the last 24 hours and told owners to power down the devices while it investigates reports of fires, fueling expectations the tech giant will scrap the flagship device.

The BBC this morning referred to "unnamed sources" cited by South Korean Hankyoreh newspaper claiming that Samsung would can the device and seek to make up for lost Note 7 sales through its Galaxy S7 models as well as the Note 5, which was the predecessor for the Note 7.

Separately, Reuters reported Samsung is now considering permanently halting sales of its flagship smartphones as an option, "according to a source familiar with the matter". The person declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Samsung did not immediately comment on the BBC report, but told Reuters no final decision had been made. Meanwhile, the South Korean finance minister said it would hurt the country's exports if the device is scrapped altogether.
 
"Right now we can't tell what the impact will be in the long term. It's up to the company and the government cannot interfere," Yoo Il-ho said. "But if they do scrap the model, it will have a negative impact on exports." 

According to analysts, the Note 7 recall could cost Samsung as many as 19 million lost unit sales, or as much as $17 billion, if it permanently stops selling the smartphone for a second time, following multiple reports of replacement handsets setting on fire. 

"This has probably killed the Note 7 brand name," said Edward Snyder, managing director of Charter Equity Research. "By the time they fix the problem they have to go through recertification and re-qualification and by the time that happens, they're going up against the [Galaxy] S8 launch." 

Investors wiped $18.8 billion off Samsung's market value on Tuesday as its shares closed down 8 percent, their biggest daily percentage decline since 2008. Meanwhile, Apple stock closed on Monday up 1.9 percent at $116.05 per share, its highest value this year. Apple is now trading at levels not seen since December 2015 and has jumped 20 percent over the past three months, partly on renewed optimism over iPhone 7 sales, but also in response to its arch rival's woes.

"The Apple share price was doing nothing for over a year – it was considered ex-growth – now it's possibly the only game in town when it comes to buying a mobile phone," said Michelle McGrade, chief investment officer at TD Direct Investing.

However, with last week's launch of its own-branded Pixel smartphones, Google is also poised to benefit.

"From Google's perspective the timing couldn't have worked out better for them in that they're essentially trying to compete now in the premium sector against the likes of Apple and Samsung," said Creative Strategies analyst Ben Bajarin, speaking to the BBC.

"Now with this issue around Samsung and some questions and stigma around the brand, the product itself, could certainly help Google out. But I think Apple's definitely the biggest beneficiary from here. If there were people on the fence about whether or not to get an iPhone 7 Plus, for example, which is kind of in the same size range as the Note 7, that was one of the things that we think is benefitting Apple the most, just because that's a competitive product and it's an established brand," Mr Bajarin added. 

The news comes on the same day Apple and Samsung are set to face off in the Supreme Court over a long-running smartphone design patent case.

Update: The Wall Street Journal has reported that Samsung has officially axed the Note 7, while Samsung has told TechCrunch: "We can confirm the report that Samsung has permanently discontinued the production of Galaxy Note 7."

Samsung today announced that it is officially asking its global partners to cease all sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7 while it further investigates claims of ongoing safety issues with replacement devices.

As of last week, there have been several reports from customers who had their replacement Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, which were deemed safe by Samsung, catch on fire. The devices were supposedly using batteries Samsung said were "not vulnerable to overheating and catching fire."

On Wednesday, a flight from Louisville to Baltimore was evacuated when a Note 7 began smoking, and on Saturday, a 13-year-old girl in Minnesota received burns from a defective device while a man in Kentucky suffered from smoke inhalation after his Note 7 caught fire while he was asleep.

Two additional reports of replacement Note 7 fires rolled in on Sunday from Virginia and Texas, plus there were reports of fires from Taiwan and South Korea.

By Monday morning, all major carriers in the United States had already announced plans to stop sales and "safe" replacements of the Galaxy Note 7, and now sales will temporarily end worldwide.

According to Samsung, customers with an original Galaxy Note 7 or a replacement Galaxy Note 7 should shut down their devices and stop using them right away.

We are working with relevant regulatory bodies to investigate the recently reported cases involving the Galaxy Note7. Because consumers' safety remains our top priority, Samsung will ask all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note7 while the investigation is taking place.

We remain committed to working diligently with appropriate regulatory authorities to take all necessary steps to resolve the situation. Consumers with either an original Galaxy Note7 or replacement Galaxy Note7 device should power down and stop using the device and take advantage of the remedies available.

Earlier today, reports suggested that Samsung has stopped production on the Galaxy Note 7. Samsung said that it is "temporarily adjusting the Galaxy Note 7 production schedule in order to take further steps to ensure quality and safety matters," with more information to be available in a month.

For customers in the United States who still have a Galaxy Note 7, all of the major carriers are now offering to replace the defective devices with another smartphone, such as an iPhone 7.

Last week, popular API documentation browser Dash was removed from the App Store after Apple accused Dash's developer of fraudulent conduct and claimed he manipulated App Store reviews.

At the time, the developer denied the accusations and garnered the support of Dash app users who believed there had been a mix up and that he was not guilty, but Apple today provided more information to justify its position and the app's removal from the App Store.

In statements given to iMore and The Loop, Apple says the developer owned two accounts with 25 apps, which had nearly 1,000 fake reviews. Both fraudulent positive reviews for his own apps and negative reviews for competing apps were involved.

"Almost 1,000 fraudulent reviews were detected across two accounts and 25 apps for this developer so we removed their apps and accounts from the App Store," Apple spokesperson, Tom Neumayr, said in a statement provided to The Loop on Monday.

"Warning was given in advance of the termination and attempts were made to resolve the issue with the developer but they were unsuccessful. We will terminate developer accounts for ratings and review fraud, including actions designed to hurt other developers. This is a responsibility that we take very seriously, on behalf of all of our customers and developers."

According to The Loop's Jim Dalrymple, Apple first sent a warning to the developer behind Dash two years ago and attempted to work with him "for some time" to put a stop to the App Store fraud. The behavior did not stop, leading to the account's termination last week.

Dash's developer specifically denied having been involved in App Store review manipulation in the blog post announcing Dash's removal from the App Store, but Apple has been adamant that fraud took place. Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller even got involved, confirming to a concerned developer that ratings and review fraud had led to the app's removal.

Apple's decision is final and there is no further appeals process, according to Dash's developer, who has yet to respond to the information Apple has provided today. Dash for iOS is unlikely to return to the iOS App Store, but Dash for Mac remains available outside of the Mac App Store.

Update: The developer behind Dash has shared his side of the story, placing the blame on a relative whose Apple Developer Program Membership he paid for.

He says he was not aware his account was linked to another until Friday and that he was not notified about any wrongdoing. He has shared a recorded phone conversation in which Apple says it will reactivate his account if he makes a blog post stating the truth that his account had been linked to an account with fraudulent activity.

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming iOS 10 update to developers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the second iOS 10.1 beta and a month after releasing iOS 10 to the public.

Registered developers can download the new iOS 10.1 beta from the Apple Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile is installed.

iOS 10.1 introduces a new "Portrait" mode for the iPhone 7 Plus that allows it to use the two built-in cameras to create shallow depth of field portrait photos with blurred backgrounds.

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To achieve the blurred look, the image signal processor in the iPhone 7 Plus uses the wide-angle camera to create a depth map, dissecting the different layers of the photo to decide what to blur. It works on people, pets, and objects, but does require good lighting to achieve the proper effect.

The update also likely includes bug fixes and other under-the-hood improvements to address issues that have been uncovered since iOS 10 was released.

iOS 10 has been described by Apple as the "biggest release ever" for iOS users, with features that include a redesigned Lock screen, a Siri SDK to allow third-party apps to integrate with Siri, and a completely overhauled Messages app with stickers, a full App Store, Digital Touch, Bubble Effects, and more.

Other features include a dedicated "Home" app for HomeKit users, new facial and object recognition capabilities in Photos, and redesigned Maps and Apple Music apps. For more details on iOS 10, make sure to check out our iOS 10 roundup.

Update: The third iOS 10.1 beta has also been released for Apple Beta Software Program members.

Apple today added a banner to its United States website, iTunes Store, and App Store asking customers to provide donations to individuals affected by the recent devastation from Hurricane Matthew. Like its usual relief efforts, all donations collected will go to the American Red Cross.

Donation tiers available include $5, $10, $25, $50, $100 and $200, and will be processed as normal iTunes or App Store purchases through a user's connected Apple ID.

Hurricane Matthew made landfall late last week, hitting the southeast coast of the United States and going on to ravage states like Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. As of yesterday, more than 2 million businesses and homes were without power, and over 3,000 people have been placed in safety shelters.

Following natural disasters, Apple normally puts out a call for disaster relief across its various storefronts. In the past, Apple collected Red Cross relief funds for the August floodings in Louisiana, the 2016 fires in Alberta, the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the refugee and migration crisis in the Mediterranean sea, the 2013 Philippines typhoon, and more.

Nearly six years after the legal battle over smartphone design similarities began between Apple and Samsung, the two companies are now about to take the case to the United States Supreme Court on Tuesday, October 11.

At stake is the outcome of how much of a combined $548 million patent infringement ruling Samsung will be required to pay to Apple (via Bloomberg).

That amount is taken from Samsung's total profit of the 11 disputed smartphones targeted by Apple in the trial, an amount which Samsung refers to as a "disproportionate" sum for the patent infringement accusations leveled at it by Apple.

The Cupertino company has remained adamant in regards to Samsung's "blatant copying" of various iPhone design features, still fighting to win the full $399 million reward (the case involves approximately another $150 million focused on Samsung's alleged infringement of Apple's pinch-to-zoom patent).

Specifically, Apple's design patents cover "the rounded corners of its phones, the rim that surrounds the front face and the grid of icons that users view." Last December, a federal court in San Jose ruled in Apple's favor, and Samsung appealed days later in attempts to avoid the $548 million reward payment to Apple. In Samsung's appeal, the company gave the court a metaphor centering around owing a car's entire profits to a rival company for infringing upon their cup holder design.

In urging the Supreme Court to take up the appeal, Samsung said the ruling was akin to awarding the entire profits on a car because of an infringing cup-holder. Apple rejects that analogy, saying that its patented features are more like the design of the entire car.

The issue now appears to be focused on the difference between the court determining if Apple's accusations cover individual components of patent infringement, or the entire product. In court records, Apple is said to "accept" that in some cases the patent owner can collect profits only "attributable to a particular component," not the earnings of the entire Samsung smartphone.

All the same, Apple said that Samsung "failed to show that the patented designs applied only to part of its phones" during the previous half-decade of court proceedings, so the latter company's defense of paying less for individual parts of the smartphone shouldn't be allowed to stand. According to lawyer Kannon Shanmugam, the case "has essentially now devolved into a dispute over what party showed what at trial and who bears the burden of proof."

In total the patent dispute amounts to nearly $550 million aimed at Samsung. The company has already paid the amount, but a clause stipulates the potential ruling in its favor requires Apple to pay back the money. Just last week, in a completely separate Samsung-vs-Apple lawsuit, The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted Apple a $120 million win over Samsung concerning the company's slide-to-unlock patent.

According to Chicago patent lawyer Paul Berghoff, a clarifying decision on the specific amount owed by Samsung to Apple could be the ultimate "catalyst for a final settlement" in the long-running case.

“Sometimes once litigants have been battling for so long, what happens is they develop levels of enmity and distrust on both sides that make it very difficult to settle the cases,” he said. “Face-saving is a very real issue for all companies. It’s hard to get out of it once you’re in it.”

Interestingly, the case also marks the Supreme Court's first examination of a design patent dispute in 120 years, "which cover the ornamental look of an object rather than any functional aspect." Previously, the Supreme Court oversaw design patents in disputes focused on spoon handles in the 1870s and carpets in the 1890s.

Samsung has halted production of its beleaguered Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after several replacement handsets reportedly caught fire and ended up with at least one person in a hospital.

On Monday, an official at a supplier for Samsung informed Korean Yonhap news agency of the decision, which is said to have been made in coordination with consumer safety regulators from South Korea, the United States, and China.

The news is another hammer blow to Samsung's mobile division and its 2016 flagship device, as the company reels from a second round of exploding phone incidents indicating that the replacement handset program at the center of its global recall efforts has failed.

The decision came after all mobile carriers in the U.S. said they would stop issuing Note 7 devices following at least five reports of replacement handsets catching fire over the last five days.

On Wednesday, a flight from Louisville to Baltimore was evacuated while still at the gate because of a smoking Note 7. Saturday saw a Minnesota case involving a 13-year-old girl who said she felt a "weird, burning sensation" while holding her phone and suffered a minor burn to her thumb. "It felt like pins and needles except a lot more intense," she said.

Later the same day, a Kentucky man reported "vomiting black" after his Note 7 caught fire while he was asleep in bed, filling his room with smoke. "It wasn't plugged in. It wasn't anything, it was just sitting there," said the man, who later took himself to ER and was diagnosed with acute bronchitis.

Then on Sunday, another Note 7 bedside incident took place in Virginia. The phone "just burst into flames while on the night stand," said its owner. "I woke up in complete panic." By midday another device had caught fire on a table where a Texas family sat eating lunch together.

All the handsets in the incidents were replacements issued by Samsung, which the company had previously claimed were using batteries that are "not vulnerable to overheating and catching fire." Samsung has yet to explain what's going on with the replacement devices.

Rumors have suggested Samsung's Note 7 problems began after the company rushed the device into production after realizing the iPhone 7 would not feature major design changes, seeing it as an opportunity to one up Apple. Suppliers were pushed to meet tighter deadlines for an earlier launch, leading to critical oversights.

The supplier official who revealed the manufacturing halt this morning described the production as "temporarily suspended", however it is difficult to imagine in what circumstances Samsung would resume production of the Galaxy Note 7, which many observers will now consider a toxic brand.

Early speculation that iPhone 7 could experience an uptick in sales because of Samsung's woes seem increasingly likely. Samsung accounted for 27.8 percent of all smartphones shipped in Q1 2016, almost double Apple's 14.4 percent share, but a big part of Samsung's jump ahead was the early release of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, while the much-anticipated Note 7 was Samsung's attempt to cater for the increasing popularity of larger-screen devices.

Update 1: Similar incidents of exploding replacement Note 7 phones have also been reported in Taiwan and South Korea.

Update 2: Samsung has said it is "temporarily adjusting the Galaxy Note 7 production schedule in order to take further steps to ensure quality and safety matters". The company said it hoped to provide an update within a month.

Three additional law firms have joined a class action lawsuit against Apple over an alleged defect that causes iPhone 6 Plus touchscreens to become unresponsive and fail.

Back in August, reports began appearing from iPhone 6 owners describing an apparently latent manufacturing issue that causes a flickering bar to appear at the top of the screen and the display to become unresponsive or less responsive to touch.

A week later, three iPhone 6 owners filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court of Northern California after their devices presented symptoms of the problem – dubbed "touch disease" by repair website iFixit – which Apple has yet to publicly acknowledge.

Yesterday, Motherboard reported that lawyers who filed the class action complaint earlier this fall have now signed on three additional law firms to support their case, while an additional class action lawsuit related to the issue has been filed against Apple in Utah.

Richard McCune, an attorney in the California case, said he has been contacted by 10,000 people asking to join the suit, which accuses Apple of violating the state's consumer fraud statutes, negligent misrepresentation, breach of implied warranty, unjust enrichment, and other consumer act violations.

The "touch disease" flaw is thought to be caused by the touchscreen controller chips soldered to the iPhone's logic board losing contact after a period of normal usage, because of Apple's failure to incorporate a metal shield. So far, Apple has refused to repair the out-of-warranty iPhones without charge when the defect manifests. Worse, replacement refurbished handsets costing owners $329 have reportedly shown symptoms of the same problem within days or weeks of being issued.

Motherboard claims five separate current and former Apple Geniuses have confirmed that Apple is aware of the problem but will not tell customers about it.

However, Apple's filed response to the most recent Utah complaint appears at least to signal a legal acknowledgement of the issue and the company's lawyers have requested an "extension of time to respond to the Complaint" and asked that the Utah and California cases be combined into one.

Given the similarity between the [Utah] and [California] actions, it would unnecessarily tax judicial resources if these actions were to proceed in separate class action lawsuits—especially where the [Utah] and [California] Plaintiffs purport to represent the same putative class of all consumers who purchased an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus.

On Friday, McCune filed an updated lawsuit against Apple that includes several new plaintiffs and formally adds the three separate law firms to the legal battle. "Each of the firms (who had their own clients) brings strength to the case, including Stephen Larson of Larson O'Brien, who is a former Federal Judge," McCune told Motherboard. "With these firms working with us, we believe it gives us the best chance of obtaining a positive result in the case for the owners of the phones."